Duanni, 2023 Fresh Sheng, Trad Stored, Lost Posts,Life

 

Life is so fun right now!  Very busy and dynamic.  Through periods of change tea is so grounding.  Puerh is always changing but imbibed in times of change it can be so centring.  I haven’t sat down at tea table for a slow evaluative sample since 2022.  No space for that … but my tea drinking is evolving.  I do remember what sample it was… 

The last sit down slow evaluative session was with a free sample from Paolo of Puerh.uk from a storage option that I really enjoy- thanks again Paolo for the treat.  It was a 2004 jia he tang tong chang hao.  I think it was mainly billed as being something close to a ChenYuan Hao Yiwu.  I really enjoyed it and think it’s probably 1/2 as good as the ChenYuan Hao - had some good Yiwu characteristics but not as strong.  I lost these tasting notes and a handful of Older Yang Qing Hao sample notes, I think, which included their most expensive offering 18 trees. Won’t probably get another crack at this one.  I remember the as expected being a very ethereal type of experience with some limbs bodyfeeling and being really soft.  I also sampled the 2006 Snow buds which was not that memorable for me.  The 2004 Dingji which blows minds.  I hate loose notes to technology ineptitude but it has happened more than a few times in the blogs long life.  Also lots some Trad storage notes- darn!

Anyways… At work, I have moved again and have not yet set up proper gongfu there.  I’m usually drinking larger pots stretched through the week stationed on the kitchen countertop in the centre of my busy home.  Yeah tea is still pretty central to my life and sometimes in the few minutes here and there at that tea table I see my life in complete clarity circling around my tea table.  Like the planets orbiting the sun.  Or other times I am drinking thermos sessions at work, outside or on the go.  It’s not my preference but I adapt.

This past year I have mainly consumed lots of Trad storage puerh and Semiaged Gushu - the ChenYuan Hao and YangQing Hao.  I should post on those things.

I would like to give Tiago a big warm thank you for pulling me out of my long streak of no posts.  He sent me his whole 2023 Tea Encounter line up!  I just finished tasting all the Gushus. Brewing was unconventional but I enjoyed it.  I used a thermos to flash steep the leaves before pouring them into a large ceramic cup created by a local Daegu ceramic artist that I was gifted around 15 yrs ago. I will post in the next days here about these.

The other thing that got me posting again was a local find of this unused giant Duanni yixing pot pictured above.  Only one of four functioning Yixings that I own now.  Got it for 39$.  Never been used but the clay is really nice the motif of a dragon and Phoenix is outrageous and got my kids very excited.  It must be 600ml if I were to guess with a crushing 20 second plus pour. What a monster!  The size and motif suggest it was probably meant as a wedding gift.  The local Saskatchewan man I purchased it off confirmed it was a wedding gift maybe 20 years ago.  The art I reminds me of something from the 90s/ early 2000s. Rare art style on yixing for sure!

I always heard that Duanni mutes the flavour of puerh.  I was always like why on earth would you want to ever mute puerh?  So I was never too interested in this clay with Hongni always being my go to.

But it’s been fun playing with a new pot- my trend seems to be bigger and bigger anyways.  The idea is for the yellow Duanni clay to take away the harsher elements of the puerh while presumably leaving the better elements more clear to appreciate.  Sounds magical doesn’t it?  People sometimes use Duanni for Traditional Hong Kong Storage puerh and that’s what I’ve been drinking lately.  However, I’m finding it’s better preforming for harsher Sheng puerh or puerh that was once more wet stored than stored in my less that idea Canadian dry storage for decades.  Example that you may have tried is that it really elevates the 2001 Ding Xing to a level of refinement that I have never tried before which it sore of washes out the Sheng puerh like elements and mutes the shu depth of something like the 90s CNNP 8972 Naked Brick.

Anyways, it’s good to know that I’m still alive, loving life, drinking lots of good tea, and most importantly still learning.

Hope you are well.

Peace